Hilco saves two thirds of HMV stores

25 more shops saved

The reorganisation is less severe than originally
thought: company advisor Deloitte, who was appointed as temporary administrator
of the British chain by the court, had planned to shut down half of
the 223 shops. The new owner plans on keeping 25 more shops, meaning 2,643 of
4,123 jobs can be saved.

The takeover dates back to January, but how
much Hilco paid for the British branch of HMV has not been made public yet.
Analysts believe the transaction is worth about fifty million pound, about sixty
million euro.

Canadian branch flourishes

Hilco hopes to take the British branch of HMV
in the same direction as the Canadian branch, whose takeover by Hilco
two years ago led to the rebirth of what is now a flourishing chain.

Hilco put Ian Topping, former CEO of
South-African retail group Steinhoff, at the helm. One of his first measures
was repealing the decision to start selling tablets, to make more room for music
and films. He also put new delivery conditions for music labels and film
studios in place.

Crisis in music sector spares no one

His Master’s Voice, famous for its logo of the dog with the gramophone,
fell into the abyss because the British consumer started buying less cd’s and
dvd’s. Despite sales of 923 million pound (over one billion euro) the company
made a loss of 16.2 million pound (19 million pound) in the financial year
2011/2012.

The crisis in the music sector is not only
affecting the small, independent music stores: it does not spare the big chains
either. At about the same time as HMV the French branch of Virgin Megastores
came into financial difficulties. Interested buyers for that chain had until
Friday to make an offer, at the beginning of June the judge decides how to
proceed with the music chain.